Understanding Human Communication
Understanding Human Communication
Understanding Human Communication
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320 PART THREE COMMUNICATION IN GROUPS<br />
this chapter for building group cohesiveness and encouraging<br />
participation.<br />
Many naive observers of groups confuse the concepts<br />
of leader and leadership.We defined leadership<br />
as the ability to influence the behavior of other members<br />
through the use of one or more types of<br />
power—legitimate, coercive, reward, expert, information,<br />
or referent.We saw that many nominal leaders<br />
share their power with other members.Leadership has<br />
been examined from many perspectives—trait analysis,<br />
leadership style, and situational variables.<br />
Smart members will avoid some common dangers<br />
that threaten a group’s effectiveness.They will make<br />
sure to get the information they need, without succumbing<br />
to overload.They will make sure that participation<br />
is equal by encouraging the contributions of<br />
quiet members and keeping more talkative people on<br />
track.They will guard against groupthink by minimizing<br />
pressure on members to conform for the sake of harmony<br />
or approval.<br />
KEY TERMS<br />
authoritarian leadership<br />
style 312<br />
brainstorming 301<br />
buzz group 294<br />
coercive power 309<br />
cohesiveness 305<br />
conflict stage 304<br />
democratic leadership<br />
style 312<br />
emergence stage 304<br />
expert power 310<br />
focus group 294<br />
force field analysis 300<br />
forum 295<br />
groupthink 318<br />
information<br />
overload 316<br />
information power 310<br />
information<br />
underload 316<br />
laissez-faire leadership<br />
style 312<br />
leader 308<br />
Leadership Grid 314<br />
legitimate power 308<br />
nominal group technique<br />
301<br />
nominal leader 308<br />
orientation stage 303<br />
panel discussion 295<br />
parliamentary<br />
procedure 294<br />
participative decision<br />
making 292<br />
power 308<br />
probative question 299<br />
problem census 294<br />
referent power 310<br />
reinforcement stage 304<br />
reward power 309<br />
situational<br />
leadership 315<br />
symposium 295<br />
trait theories of leadership<br />
312<br />
ACTIVITIES<br />
1. When to Use Group Problem Solving Explain<br />
which of the following tasks would best be managed<br />
by a group:<br />
1. Collecting and editing a list of films illustrating<br />
communication principles.<br />
2. Deciding what the group will eat for lunch at a<br />
one-day meeting.<br />
3. Choosing the topic for a class project.<br />
4. Finding which of six companies had the lowest<br />
auto insurance rates.<br />
5. Designing a survey to measure community attitudes<br />
toward a subsidy for local artists.<br />
2. Increasing Group Creativity You can increase<br />
your skill at increasing creativity in group discussions<br />
by trying the approaches described in <strong>Understanding</strong><br />
<strong>Human</strong> <strong>Communication</strong>. Your group<br />
should begin by choosing one of the following problems:<br />
1. How can out-of-pocket student expenses (e.g.,<br />
books, transportation) be decreased?<br />
2. How can the textbook you are using in this (or<br />
any other) class be improved?<br />
3. How could your class group (legally) earn the<br />
greatest amount of money between now and<br />
the end of the term?<br />
4. What strategies can be used effectively when<br />
confronted with employer discrimination or harassment?<br />
(Assume you want to keep the job.)<br />
5. Imagine that your group has been hired to develop<br />
a way of improving the course registration<br />
system at your institution.What three recommendations<br />
will be most effective?<br />
Choose either brainstorming or the nominal group<br />
technique to develop possible solutions to your<br />
chosen problem. Explain why you chose the<br />
method. Under what conditions would the other<br />
method be more appropriate?<br />
3. Stages in Group Development Identify a problem-solving<br />
group, either from your personal experience<br />
or from a book or film. Analyze the group’s<br />
approach to problem solving. Does it follow the<br />
cyclical model pictured in Figure 9–1? Does it follow<br />
a more linear approach? Or does the group follow<br />
no recognizable pattern at all?